After being punched by Blake Griffin, Clippers equipment manager told Toronto police he was OK
Blake Griffin, shown against the Minnesota Timberwolves on Dec. 7, faces disciplinary action after an altercation with a Clippers employee.
Reporting from Atlanta — No police report was filed in Blake Griffin’s altercation with Clippers assistant equipment manager Matias Testi after Testi downplayed the situation and told police on the scene that he was OK, a person with knowledge of the situation told the Los Angeles Times on Wednesday.
Officers from the Toronto Police Service arrived at the restaurant in the city’s entertainment district but were satisfied with the explanation they received from Griffin and Testi after the longtime friends explained what had happened and told the officers there was no need to escalate the situation.
Police did not take their names because there was no report on file, said Jenifferjit Sidhu, a media relations officer with the Toronto Police Service.
“We have no victim, we have no report,” Sidhu said.
A person with knowledge of the situation said Griffin and Testi had engaged in their normal teasing back and forth when things became heated and Griffin punched Testi during an altercation that continued outside the restaurant.
Griffin broke his right hand and will be sidelined for at least four weeks. He also faces a possible fine and/or suspension, which is expected to be announced well before his hand heals.
Testi sustained a badly swollen face but no fractures.
A Clippers spokesman told The Times on Monday that Griffin had returned to Los Angeles before the game against the Toronto Raptors the previous day because he had not recovered sufficiently from a quadriceps injury to play on the final three games of the team’s trip. The spokesman said he did not become aware of the severity of Griffin’s hand injury until Monday night.
Testi worked the game against the Raptors and traveled with the team from Toronto to Indianapolis before flying back to Los Angeles on Monday.
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